Pride & Empathy
by EnjoytheSilence03
Summary: "None of us can choose where we shall love..." Loki/OC/Bruce
1. Chapter 1

So, like many others, I've come to really love the characters in the Avengers and decided to try my hand at a fanfic. I hope you enjoy.

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_Pride & Empathy_

Chapter 1

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"Lizzy! Lizzy, where are you?"

The world was crumbling around her, and Alexa had managed to lose the one thing that mattered most in the world—her baby sister.

"Elizabeth!" she called, voice raw from the screaming and the pure panic pumping through her veins. "Elizabeth!"

Debris was everywhere. Clouds of dust created a haze through which she could see the twisted bodies of cars and buses, remnants of buildings and pavement, people running or lying still on the ground, and blood—there was so much blood. It was madness.

It was hell.

The day had started off so normal—so _perfectly _normal. The sun was shining, warming the sidewalks of New York City in a pleasant way that left Lizzy cheering, happy summer had finally arrived. Her first winter had been hard. But that day, nothing could go wrong.

Lizzy had just graduated from seventh grade that morning. Alexa had never been more proud of her little sister, the devil. An empty box of Kleenexes was testament to that. Her heart squeezed thinking of how _wonderful_ everything had seemed.

They had walked down the happy streets to Lizzy's favorite restaurant, the one right at the base of Stark Tower. The place was pricey, but it was the restaurant their parents had taken them the first time they came to visit Alexa in New York. Lizzy didn't have to say it, but she knew that was why her little sister jumped at every chance she got to go there.

They had been sitting outside, waiting on their food, Lizzy practically bursting with excitement, though she tried to hide it because it wasn't 'cool', when the unthinkable happened, when all hell had broken lose.

Those—those_ things_ came. Buildings began exploding, and people began screaming. Somewhere between the restaurant windows shattering and pieces of the building falling, she had lost Lizzy.

"Elizabeth!" She cried, tears trickling unconsciously from her eyes. She scrambled over cars and rubble, desperate to find her sister and terrified of the possibilities of what state she could be in once she found her.

"Alexa!" The cry was faint, but had her spinning around and running blindly towards its direction.

"Elizabeth!"

"Alexa, over here!"

She had been running so fast she had almost missed her sister's cowering body behind an overturned bus. Her heart felt like it was going to burst with relief. She threw herself at her sister, hugging her tighter, as if she let go Lizzy would slip away again.

"Are you hurt? Is anything broken, bleeding—" Liz struggled in her hold. "If you keep squeezing me like that there's going to be."

Alexa rolled her eyes and dragged her sister back into her arms, half to make sure she wasn't dreaming and half to annoy Lizzy in case she wasn't.

"Okay, okay, I get it. You were worried."

"Damn straight, punk." An explosion nearby sent the sisters ducking their heads. It was then that Alexa noticed that her sister was not the only one taking cover behind the bus. A teenager, a woman with two children, an elderly woman, and a man that she assumed was once the bus driver were all there trembling along with them.

"Alexa," Liz whispered, voice shaking and arms clinging to her sister, "what are those things?"

Her eyes were drawn back to the events playing out beyond the bus. They watched, mesmerized as the large scaly bodies of the invaders hit the ground and began shooting everything in sight.

"I…I don't know."

Her sister trembled against her. "What are we going to do?"

Alexa moved to repeat the same answer, but one look at her sister's face made her change her mind. The girl was shaking in fear, but looked at her with hopeful blue eyes. Eyes that trusted her big sister would fix things—that she would know what to do.

She glanced up and noticed everyone else was staring at her with similar hope filled eyes. They were lost, dazed, and hurting, and they wanted—no, needed—someone to lead them out of this nightmare.

Alexa closed her eyes and tried to pull herself together, summoning every ounce of self-assurance and confidence she possessed. She smothered the fear and panic inside her, pushing it into some corner of herself where it couldn't muddy up her thoughts.

"We can't stay here," she declared firmly.

Flashes of panic danced across their faces. She knew what they were thinking. Leaving left them exposed. Leaving meant that they could be killed.

"One of them will find us back here and kill us. We need somewhere safe…off the streets." As she spoke her eyes darted around, straining through the haze. They needed somewhere easily blockaded and sturdy enough to not collapse around them. She tilted her head back and squinted up at the glowing blue _hole_ in the sky. Centered right above Stark Tower, those _things_ were pouring out of it by the hundreds.

"There!" Alexa cried.

Liz tried and failed to spot the place. "Where?"

"There." She pointed. "The lobby of Stark Tower. These things are coming from above it and branching out. The last thing they're going to do is loop back and attack it. I think," she murmured the last part under her breath.

"But…it's so far," came a shaky voice from down the bus. The mother with the two crying, shaking children looked at her with wide, frightened eyes.

Alexa tried to school her face to express the confidence she hardly felt.

"We don't have a choice. We're not going to die here."

She wasn't going to give them an option. They needed to come. Staying was a death sentence.

"Okay, we're going to have to go in teams." She scanned over the group. "You, kid." She gestured at the teenager.

"Me?" he replied, startled he'd been addressed.

"Yes, you. What's your name?"

"Uh—Adrian."

She nodded, satisfied. "Okay, Adrian, I need you to help Mrs..." She trailed off, looking at the elderly woman.

"Abigail. Abigail Woods. But just Abigail dearie." The woman gave her a sweet smile, one that was far too cheerful for their settings. She spoke as if they were meeting at a tea party and not in the middle of a war zone.

"Right—I need you, Adrian, to help Mrs. Abigail to the lobby. Can you do that for me?" she implored.

Adrian's eyes darted about, and she could see fear begin to take over.

"Adrian!" she yelled. His eyes flashed to her. Her stare left no room for refusal. "You need to help Mrs. Abigail to the lobby," she spoke slowly, enunciating and emphasizing each word. "Do you understand?"

He nodded shakily, lips pressed hard together.

"Okay, good."

"Now Mr...," she paused to read the name tag on his uniform, "Dave." His head lifted in acknowledgement, but he did not speak. "I need you to help the nice lady over there with the kids. You will carry one and she'll carry the other. Understand?"

He shook his head mutely.

"I need a yes or no, Dave."

"Yes—I can do that" came the hoarse whisper. He sounded as if he was suffocating, but she had more important things to deal with. Once they were safe everyone could have all the mental breakdowns they liked.

"Okay, my sister and I are going to run over there first. Once I give the signal, Dave, your group will follow. And then after that, Mrs. Abigail and Adrian will head over. Everyone understand?"

Heads nodded.

"Good."

Alexa took a deep breath and grabbed her sister's hand. "You ready, Lizzy?" she asked, glancing down at her. Lizzy gulped and shook her head.

"Right. Don't let go of my hand—no matter what happens."

Her eyes darted around, taking in the surroundings. None of those _things_ were between them and the lobby, but she was worried once they left the shelter of the bus they would see movement and come to investigate—something they couldn't afford.

"When you cross over stay as low to the ground as possible," she called down the line before turning back to her sister.

"Deep breath," she told Lizzy. "On the count of three."

"One…"

"Two..."

"Three!"

The two sisters darted from behind the bus to the nearest large object, an overturned car. A moment passed while Alexa checked to see that none of the aliens had noticed them. When none had, she tugged on her sister's arm, and they took off again.

A blur of dirt and heavy breathing, the pattern continued until they made it to the steps of Stark Tower.

There, she pushed her sister towards the damaged doorway. "Go, I have to give the signal." Her sister gave her hand one last squeeze before disappearing into the dark lobby.

Alexa turned and squinted at the faraway aliens. Not seeing any focused this direction, she motioned for the next group.

In ten minutes, all seven of them lay safely in the lobby, hearts pounding and bodies covered in dirt and scratches, but alive.

"What now?" Alexa was surprised to find it was Adrian who spoke.

"Uh…" she began, taking in the surroundings, "we need to secure the doors and block off the windows." The doorway was glass along with most of the front of the lobby. She nodded to herself. "Right—so everyone grab anything they can and shove it in front of the doors or windows. We're going to make sure that nothing knows we're in here."

The damaged furniture of the lobby was slowly shifted around and, in what felt like forever, the doors were barricaded and roughly five feet of all the windows had been covered.

Everyone else began relaxing, but Alexa wouldn't allow herself to. This _attack_ wasn't over yet and just because the fight was now out of sight, didn't mean they weren't still in danger.

They need to keep an eye on what was going on and to do that they needed a vantage point.

"I'm going to go up."

The group eyed her nervously.

"Go where?" Liz spoke up.

"Upstairs. I'm going to go as far up as I can to try to see what's going on. If things begin taking a turn for the worse, we'll need to get out of here."

Alexa watched their faces drained of color.

"What? You mean we might not win?" the mother asked shakily.

She gave her a grim smile and shrugged. "Nothing's guaranteed."

"I should be back soon. Make for the stairwell if anything goes wrong." She gave them one last look over before heading over to the stairs herself.

Her sister trailed after her. "What are you looking for?"

"I'm not really sure…" she said, making sure to keep her voice low so as to not let the others hear. "I just…can't sit around and not know what's going on."

Lizzy nodded. "Yeah, me too."

Alexa paused and turned to look down at her sister. "Oh, no—you are not coming with me Elizabeth Marie. You are staying right here with the others."

Lizzy crossed her arms defiantly. "That's not fair!"

Alexa rolled her eyes. "Stop being a brat and stay put. It's too dangerous. We don't know how damaged the building is. "

Lizzy made a face. "But you're going!"

"Yeah, and I'm twenty five and you're thirteen. This trip is rated M for eighteen and older, which means _you_ stay _put_."

Her sister huffed and stomped off.

Letting out an irritated sigh, Alexa began climbing the stairs. Only her temperamental sister could go from terrified to obnoxious while the world crumbled around them. She blamed the hormones. Puberty was making her sister retarded.

After about the tenth flight, Alexa lost track of what floor she was on. The lights were off or flickering, and sometimes she could barely make out the next step. Her arms clung to the handrail as if it was the only thing holding her to the earth.

The progress was slow, but she eventually made it to a height she decided was far enough. Hands held in front of her like those mummies from those horrible black and white horror movies, she searched for a door on the landing.

Three stubbed fingers later, she found it. The door wouldn't open though. She pushed and pulled and it wouldn't budge.

She let out an irritated huff. She did not climb fifty million stairs only to be stopped by a freaking door.

Her feet shuffled backwards; her muscles tensed in preparation. With a cry she launched herself at the door, shoulder first. She didn't plan enough though, for as the door slammed open, she found herself sprawled face first on the ground.

"Oww…" she groaned, rubbing her head. "That's going to leave a bruise."

Alexa laid on the floor for a moment, wishing she could just close her eyes and go to sleep and let someone else deal with this _problem_—let someone else scope out the battle—let someone else lead the people downstairs—let someone else take care of her little sister.

With a grunt, she pulled herself up and shook her head, as if to shake the thoughts from her mind. There was no point in thinking about things like that. She was that person whether she liked it or not and there was nothing she could do about it. It just _was_.

Her eyes darted around the room she ended up in and had to wonder who it belonged to. That was before she smacked herself on the forehead.

_Duh—Tony Stark. _

She took a moment to take it in. The place was gorgeous with marble floor, a granite bar, and floor to ceiling windows that went on forever. She could see the whole city from here. It was _perfect_.

She stepped carefully, noticing the giant hole in the window and the glass sprinkled across the floor. Whatever had made that hole had been person sized. She glanced around nervously in case the hole was from something coming _in_ instead of being thrown _out. _

However, her inspection was cut short when she got closer to the window and saw New York City unfold at her feet, like a red carpet—if the red carpet was infested by alien bugs and on fire.

It was horrible. Flashes of light burst in every direction, followed by the immediate sound of destruction. It was like watching a thunderstorm. Booming thunder trailed after every streak of lightning. Except these _things_ were wielding the lightning, and the thunder was the combination of buildings crumbling and people screaming. Her heart clenched thinking of the pain below.

"Oh god…" she breathed.

"You called?"

She whipped around so fast her neck burned. Her heart lunged into her throat, pounding at such a furious rate she was sure she was about to have a heart attack, if not for the fact that the sight before her seemed to freeze the very blood in her veins.

The man standing in the middle of the room was like none other she had seen. He rose up tall and dark, weighed down with what must have been pounds of leather and armor, but moved as if the burden was but a feather on his back. A crown or helmet of sorts sat on his head, horns protruding from his forehead and curling up, making him even taller and menacing.

He belonged on the set of Game of Thrones, not in the crumbling Stark Tower in the middle of some sort of alien invasion.

"Speechless?" he asked, condescendingly, voice silky but cold. His smile was just as icy, and a shiver ran down her back at the sight of it.

"I tend to have that effect on _your_ kind."

Her instincts were screaming at her to run—that this man was evil and unpredictable. He was an armed grenade, on the verge of exploding. His cold eyes and frosty smile meant her nothing but harm, and if she didn't get away fast enough she was going to end up hurt, or worse, dead.

Alexa was too afraid to move, but found her mouth opening anyway.

"Who—" she began, but paused.

Another part of her was telling her something else. This man wasn't human.

"What," she corrected, "are you?"

"Oh, you are more clever than I expected from a simple creature such as yourself," he stated mockingly, laughing a little to himself.

"I am your future—the future of your entire pathetic race." He lifted his arms. "I am all there will be, and I shall set you free—from yourselves." His teeth flashed at her. He was bubbling with excitement and self-assurance.

"I am Loki."

Alexa felt as though she was going to be sick. Thoughts whirled around her head at a dizzying speed. The way he said _your _race—the freedom he promised—it was all wrong—horribly, horribly _wrong_. Something deep inside her seemed to snap, and rage began to boil beneath her skin. She noticeably began to shake.

His smile widened, delighting in what he interpreted as fear so all-consuming and terrible, it required a physical manifestation.

"This—" she had to pause to stop her voice from shaking. His amusement grew.

"This destruction—this _invasion—_this _pain_—this _madness—you_ did this?"

He clapped his hands in delight. "Quite shrewd for a pretty thing, aren't you? But you are correct." He made a sweeping gesture towards the city. "This is my glorious war and conquest of the human race."

She saw red.

"Do you—do you have _any_ idea how many people your petty act of revenge has killed? Do you know how many lives your resentment and bitterness have swallowed? All because you couldn't move past your pride and jealousy! All because second best wasn't good enough!"

She slapped a hand over her mouth, eyes wide as saucers. She had no idea what had come over her or what the hell she had just said. One moment she had been trapped in his hard emerald stare and next something clicked. Then she began screaming all those things—

"Shit—"

An icy hand squeezed around her throat and lifted her up off the ground.

"SHIELD must be quite _desperate_ to send a mouse like you to provoke me," he sneered.

Alexa tried to shake her head, while desperately clawing at his arms. Her throat felt as if it was going to collapse under the pressure, and her lungs screamed for air.

"I don't—I've never—never heard of—SHIELD—never," she gasped.

"Oh?" he said, bringing her close to his face. She froze in terror as his eyes stared into her soul. "Then how, my little mouse, do you know so much?"

"I don't know! I swear!" she cried, tears trickling down her cheeks in panic.

His eyes narrowed dangerously.

"I don't believe you."

With a flick of his wrist he sent her flying into the nearest wall with the effort and nonchalance one uses to brush aside crumbs.

Pain exploded through every inch of her body as it slammed into shelves lining the walls. Glass rained down on her, leaving burning cuts in its wake. The pain was indescribable and like nothing she had ever felt before. She felt like she was dying, and for a moment she wished she was—anything to end the pain.

Her sister's face flashed before her eyes, and she winced guiltily.

Not yet, she told herself. _Not yet._

Gritting her teeth she tried to pull herself up and out of the rubble. Glass tinkled as it fell to the floor. She needed to run. This wasn't her fight. She was appallingly out of her league.

But in a flash of green, the man—_Loki —_plucked her from the debris and held her by the throat again. Her entire body screamed in protest. Black began to seep into her vision.

"Such a weak thing, you are—determined, but weak. I admire that. Despite your frailty you would still get up to fight."

Alexa shook her head.

"No?" he seemed to purr.

"No—not fight—run," she breathed.

Loki let out a loud laugh, amusement lighting up his features. "Such honesty…it's refreshing." His eyes roamed her face.

"I cannot imagine Fury to be so cruel as to send a _thing_ such as yourself to confront me," he thought aloud. "Perhaps he sent you to appeal to my humanity? My morals? Or perhaps my desire?" He stared deep into her eyes again.

"No—I don't know—what you're talking—I don't know—_anything_."

She squirmed furiously, black spots invading her vision further. She couldn't pass out. If she did, she was never going to wake up. He would kill her the second she would stop being _amusing_.

"Oh, but dear you do know something. Quite a lot, in fact." He tightened his grip around her throat. "Now, I would simply like to know how. A humble request, I must say. And then I shall let you go on your merry way."

"You—you don't understand. I don't know—how I knew. Something clicked—and then I just knew."

"Knew what exactly?"

She stared at him with such pity it turned his stomach.

"That you are a child who did not get the toy he thought he deserved."

He backhanded her clear across the room.

Pain exploded in her head, and her vision went black. But she did not pass out. No, she was still painfully aware of her surroundings. She could feel the sting of glass digging into her skin and the tickle of blood running down her face. But she could not see. For a panicked moment she thought she had gone blind. But then she heard the crunch of glass as footsteps slowly approached her, and everything was forgotten except the need to escape

She screamed at her arms and legs to move, to run, to do _anything_, but they didn't respond. She felt like a ragdoll waiting to be thrown away.

The footsteps stopped right next to her. She lay there wondering what was taking so long for the final blow.

"Get away from her!"

Her blood ran cold.

"Like chicken to the slaughter," he said with silky venom. "Now, just who might you be?"

No—no, this couldn't be happening. Not her—not her baby sister—not Lizzy.

"Her sister!" she declared, heatedly.

"Oh!" he proclaimed. "What a delightful reunion!"

"Lizzy—" she breathed, trying to raise her voice and tell her to run—to get away—, but her body rebelled against her.

"Get away from her!"

"What a bossy little one you are," he gave her a twisted smirk. "What, pray tell, are you going to do if I don't?"

A silence filled the room.

"Run—Lizzy—run." By some miracle her voice carried.

The sound of it made Loki's blood boil in remembrance of her previous words.

"Silence!"

He delivered a strong kick to her side, sending her body flying into the same wall she had just crashed into.

"NO!"

A scream tore through the room, and it took Alexa a moment to realize it wasn't hers, but her sister's. Her heart stopped fearing the worst, but it wasn't one of terror—it was one of anger.

Suddenly the air in the room seemed to come to life, sparking with energy.

"What-?" he began, shock evident in his voice.

Alexa felt her hair stand on end, as if someone had taken a balloon and rubbed it against her head. A bright flash of light filled the room, followed by the sound of glass shattering and objects being thrown.

But, through the noise, she made out a loud grunt and felt a whoosh of air touch her face, as if something had been thrown by her.

The screaming finally stopped, and Alexa heard a thud in direction her sister was standing.

Fear gripped her heart—fear not for herself but for her sister. Her mind raced with the images of what Loki could have done to her.

With pure determination fueling her, she rolled onto her stomach and attempted to crawl in the direction she heard the thud.

"Lizzy?" Her voice shook. "Lizzy—"

She had only managed to crawl a foot or two before her body stopped and her head hit the floor.


	2. Chapter 2

_Pride & Empathy_

Chapter 2

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"What the hell?" Tony Stark was appalled by the state of his apartment. Walls were crushed, glass broken, furniture destroyed, and scorch marks covered everything. "Loki will be getting a bill for this."

"Where is he?" Thor questioned, moving past the Hulk and into the room.

"Here," Captain America called from the side of the late bar.

The team walked over to find Loki slumped against the wall, unconscious and bleeding. The scorch marks that littered the room all converged upon him, blackening his face and clothes. The very spot under him was black. It was obvious what had caused it.

Clint whistled. "Good job, Thor. Way to hand it to him."

Thor's brow creased together. "It was not me, friend. I had no part in this state."

Tony raised an eyebrow. "Well then who did, Blondie? You're the only one running around with 'Sparky', the lightning making play toy.

Thor shook his head again, looking more concerned. "It was not me, Metal Man."

"Guys," Natasha called from the far side of the room. "I think you should come see this."

The group turned to find Natasha crouched next to a pile of debris, a very human shaped pile of debris.

"Who the hell is that? And how the hell did they get up into _my_ private apartment?" Tony asked, indignantly.

Natasha sent him a look of appalled disbelief, while Clint crouched down and rolled the figure over. The group collectively winced.

"Just looking at her makes me hurt," Tony said, nose wrinkled as if he smelled something rotten.

Clint felt along her neck. "I have a pulse. She's alive, but barely."

Steve stepped forward. "Did she do this?" He waved to the destruction around the room.

"No."

"How do you know—" It took Steve a moment to realize it was Dr. Banner who spoke. "Doc, are you—"

Bruce ignored him, standing on the far side of the room, half dressed.

"Banner, how do you know it wasn't her?" Natasha asked, confused.

Bruce stepped aside to show another crumpled figure, this one smaller. "Because the scorch marks spread out from her."

On the floor was a little girl with hardly a scratch on her. White blonde hair created a sort of halo around her head. She didn't even look unconscious, just sleeping.

"Is she—?" Steve began, afraid of the answer.

"She's breathing," Bruce confirmed.

"How could the lightning that struck down my brother come from one so small?" Thor asked, troubled.

"The real question we should be asking is how she produced it in the first place," Steve pointed out.

A cough startled them out of their thoughts.

Before Loki was even able to fully sit up, an army of superheroes surrounded him. For a moment he was confused. "How—?" he began, but paused as he stared at the two lifeless figures in the distance.

Tony followed his gaze. "We were actually hoping you could tell us that one."

Loki shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. "The girl—she became—angry."

Tony let out a mirthless laugh. "You tend to have that effect on people. Right big guy?" he said, patting the Hulk on the arm.

"Her sister—"

"The two are sisters?" Thor asked.

Loki sneered at his brother and opened his mouth to mock him.

It was that moment that Fury burst in the room with an army of SHIELD agents behind him.

"Get the shackles and gag on him immediately!" He called over his shoulder, as he stepped purposefully towards the group of heroes.

Four agents rushed passed him. In seconds, they had fastened shackles around Loki's hands and feet and secured a piece of metal to his mouth. Loki did not struggle.

Thor watched with a heavy heart as his brother was lifted and escorted by at least twenty agents out of the room.

Steve placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. The god nodded his thanks, but stared at the place his brother had disappeared for a few moments longer.

"Director?" Agent Hill called. She was crouched on the floor next to the bleeding woman. Fury took in the sight and then turned his eye on the Avengers. He raised an expectant eyebrow.

Tony shrugged. "We're just as confused as you, chief." In the background, Hill was calling for an emergency medical team.

Fury turned away to assist Agent Hill, but paused when he heard Tony whisper loudly.

"Wait until he spots the kindergartener over there that took down Loki."

"Excuse me?"


	3. Chapter 3

_Pride & Empathy_

Chapter 3

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_Beep….beep…beep…_

The steady ringing of her alarm slowly roused her. She buried her head further into the pillow to block out the sound. But the beeps just became more incessant. Letting out a groan, she rolled over to slap the snooze button, its spot so well memorized she didn't even need to open her eyes.

Her hand met air.

Her brow creased in frustration. She groped the area for a moment, searching for her nightstand and failing.

Fed up, she popped open her eyes only to immediately close them in pain. The overhead light was painfully bright. Water pooled behind her lids. It felt as if her retinas had been burned.

And then something clicked.

She didn't have an overhead light in her bedroom.

She shot up only to feel tugs and stings of pain on her arm. Her eyes squinted open, vision blurry from the pain and black spots from the light.

There were wires in her arms. Why were there wires in her arm?

She blindly felt around her, coming into contact with cold metal rails lining the bed. Was she in a hospital? Why was she in a hospital? What had happened?

A headache blossomed, throbbing behind her eyes. Her skull felt like it was filled with cotton. She lowered her head onto her drawn up knees and pressed her eyes hard into the limbs. The pressure caused spots to dance behind her lids.

_Focus_, she told herself. _Focus and breathe. _

She tried to recall the last thing she could clearly remember.

She had left work early. She had waved goodbye to Mr. Robinson at the front desk, but where had she gone after? Why had she left?

_Lizzy._

It had been Lizzy's graduation. Yes, she could remember walking to her school. Next, she recalled a blur of Kleenex's and a whirlwind of emotions. She had been so sad but so proud. And then…and then what?

What had they done after her graduation? There had been a plan…she had been going to treat her sister…to surprise her…

_The restaurant._

And then the memories from the rest of that day crashed down around her. She let out a whimper, feeling as if her head was going to burst.

_The aliens—the people—_

_Loki. _

"Oh god—Lizzy!"

She threw herself off the bed. Stings of pain ran through her arms as the wires were torn from her skin. She flinched as her feet made contact with the icy stone floor, quickly moving to take a step.

And then her legs crumbled under her weight as if they were made of jello instead of muscle and bone. She hit the floor with a loud thud.

After a moment of wallowing in pain, she tried to right herself. Her arms shook violently as she raised herself up. She had never felt so weak, so vulnerable in her life. It was as if her bones had turned to mush. Every muscle in her body ached and screamed at her to stop whatever the hell she was doing and lay back down.

She glanced back at her legs as if to will them to move with her stare and instead found one leg encased in a long white cast.

Her leg was broken?

Well that certainly explained why she stood for a total of .5 seconds.

All of a sudden she became aware of the high pitched urgent alarm coming from one of the machines. She tried to turn her head to get a better look at it, but found she couldn't. Her hands reached up and found a stiff brace around her neck.

That—_Loki_—had really done a thorough job of beating the every living crap out of her.

And suddenly why she had tumbled out of bed in the first place hit her.

"Lizzy…"

She needed to find Lizzy. She needed to know that she was okay—alive. She needed to know that she hadn't let her baby sister down when it mattered most.

Caught up in her thoughts, Alexa failed to hear the swish of the door as it opened and the footsteps that slowly approached her.

"So Sleeping Beauty finally woke up."

Her head snapped up to find two very polished shoes standing less than a foot away from her head. She tried and failed to turn her neck to see the rest of whoever made the smartass comment, but the neck brace wouldn't allow her.

"Minus the beauty 'cause you, babe, look like absolute hell."

Alexa glared at the shoes.

"I suppose that's what you get for taking on a _god—_granted a rather puny and fashionless one—but god nonetheless."

Alexa shook her head, wanting him to stop talking.

"What? You don't remember tall, dark, and reindeer?"

"Lizzy—" she gasped. "Where—where is Lizzy?"

The shoes moved away and began pacing around the room.

"Lizzy…Lizzy…" he rolled the name around. "Can't say I've heard of her."

Alexa shook her head, tears gathering in her eyes. "She's my sister. Small—blonde—thirteen. She has to be—I need—I need to find her."

The man tsked at her. "Girlie, you're in no shape to go anywhere. How 'bout we play a game of twenty questions, instead? I ask—you answer."

She shook her head, letting her forehead hit the floor. Lizzy had to be alive. She just had to be. She couldn't—Alexa let out a chocked sob.

Completely disregarding her mental state, the man continued to speak. "How 'bout you tell me how you ended up in _my_ apartment and managed to royally get your ass handed to you by Rock of Ages? Just what did you do to piss him off?"

Her head didn't stop moving back in forth in disbelief. Tears splattered on the floor. If he didn't know where Lizzy was then—

"Are you listening to me?"

"I just—I just need to find my sister."

"Look—we'll get to that later. Right now I want some answers. Now how did—"

"Tony, what the hell are you doing?"

This voice was new and deeper. She marveled at the fact she hadn't even heard the door open. Whoever it was sounded appalled and—and concerned? Worried? But for who—

A warm hand landed on her shoulder.

"Alexandra? Alexandra, can you hear me?"

She nodded mutely.

"Tony, how long has she been on the ground?" His voice gained an annoyed edge.

"Hey, I had no part in this. She was like that when I came in," he said, innocently.

A growl came from the man next to her. "And you decided to leave her like this?"

"She seemed comfortable enough." Alexa could practically hear the shrug in his voice.

"Lizzy—I need to find Lizzy—he doesn't know where she is—I need to find her—she has to be—" she choked on her tears.

The hand tightened around her shoulder almost painfully.

"You didn't tell her about her sister?"

"It didn't really seem that important," he said flippantly

"Tony…" he warned.

"Okay, okay. Don't go all green on me. I'll call Pepper and have her bring her up."

Alexa reached out and clung to the person's arm. "My sister—is she—?"

A hand covered hers and squeezed it reassuringly. "She's fine. She doesn't have a scratch on her."

Alexa felt as if a weight had been lifted from her chest. The tears in her eyes were now those of relief.

"Thank god."

She let her head fall back down and allowed herself enjoy the coolness of the floor against her cheek. A hand pushed back her hair and with the lightest of touches ran through it. For a moment, the pain in her body seemed to fade.

Elizabeth was alive. She was safe. Alexa didn't fail her sister. She didn't fail her parents. Everything was going to be okay.

"Are you ready to be moved back to the bed?" he asked her softly.

Alexa paused before responding. There was no way she was going to get back on the bed or even sit up by herself. That meant whoever-he-was was going to have to lift her. The idea left a bad taste in her mouth.

Sensing her reluctance he tried a different approach. "Your sister's going to be really worried if she comes in and sees you like this." She felt a spark of irritation at the fact he was treating her like some sort of skittish animal, ready to dart away at any moment.

But he was right—Lizzy couldn't see her like this. She sighed.

"Okay."

With a soft touch he rolled her gently onto her back.

The first thing she noticed was his dark eyes. They were warm—so different from the last pair of eyes she stared into. She shivered thinking of the icy green stare.

"Are you in pain?"

Alexa grimaced, but shook her head. He began moving her limbs to make it easier to lift her. All the while he did, she studied him.

Brown hair peppered with gray curled softly over his forehead, while stubble dotted his face. Wrinkles crossed his tan skin, and deep bags hung under his eyes. All in all the man looked weary and ragged, but something about his eyes told Alexa that he was much younger than he appeared to be. Some stress had caused his rapid aging—something inside him—something angry.

She was jolted out of her thoughts as he hauled her up with a grunt of effort. Pain shot through her body, and she winced.

"Sorry."

Alexa shook her head as if to tell him it was okay, but squeezed her eyes closed to try to block out the pain.

He set her gently down on the bed, doing his best to keep from jarring any of her limbs. Alexa wished she could express just how much she appreciated that.

"I can hook you back onto the morphine. It will help with the pain," he said, moving around to the opposite side of the bed.

Her hand reached out and grabbed his in a weak hold as he moved to insert the needle. "No—I want to be awake when my sister gets here."

His eyes softened, and he nodded understandingly. "How about I grab you some Tylenol then?"

Alexa nodded satisfied. She let her eyes slip close as she heard him rummage through some drawers. God, her body was tired.

"Here."

She opened her eyes to see a cup of water and a hand full of pills in front of her. She reached out and grabbed the pills but couldn't lift herself up to swallow them.

"Let me help," he said quietly. He reached an arm around her shoulder and lifted her into a sitting position. She popped the pills in and allowed him to guide the cup to her mouth. The action caused her cheeks to burn from embarrassment.

That done he laid her back down carefully and moved to the monitors on the side of the bed, checking what she assumed was her vitals.

"Are you a doctor?"

He seemed startled by her question and wrung his hands.

"In a way—yes," he said with a wry smile.

She raised an eyebrow at him expectantly, but he didn't elaborate.

Alexa decided to try a different approach. "What's your name?"

"Oh—sorry—I completely forgot," he said taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes. He looked even more exhausted without them blocking his face. He began wringing his hands again.

"Are you going to dodge ever question I ask, doctor?"

He looked up at her with wide eyes. It seemed to take him a moment to process exactly what she said, and then he let out a soft chuckle. "No—no, I'm not. I'm Bruce Banner."

Alexa smiled satisfied. "It's nice to—"

"Alexa!"

The door burst open, and a yellow blur flew across the room.

Alexa let out an 'oomph' as something collided with her and clung onto her for dear life. It was a moment or two before she stopped seeing stars and realized that 'something' was her little sister.

"Oh, Lizzy…"

Her sister's blonde head dug further into her shoulder.

"I was—I was so worried. I thought—I thought that you'd never wake up and," she paused choking on a sob. "That—that I'd be alone!"

She felt water slowly seep through her hospital gown. Her heart throbbed painfully. She reached up and stroked her sister's hair.

"Shhh…it's okay. I'm awake now. Everything's fine. We're together. I'm not going anywhere Elizabeth," she said soothingly.

Her sister sniffed and clung to her tighter. Alexa winced at the pain that shot through her ribs.

"Lizzy—your sister—she's still hurt. You shouldn't—" Bruce began, but fell silence after a glare from Alexa. Her sister was sobbing and he expected her to shove her off because of a little pain? She mentally scoffed. Clearly Doctor Banner didn't have any younger siblings—or kids, for that matter.

He watched the sisters nervously, wringing his hands as he thought about how much damage Alexandra had already done to her body that day.

"Hey, Doc?"

Bruce's eyes snapped to Alexa. "Could you maybe give us a moment alone?"

She could see the reluctance on his face and added for good measure a desperate: "Please?"

He nodded and shuffled out the door.

A minute or two passed as Alexa waited for Lizzy's sobs to quiet. When they did she pulled her sister back so she could look at her face. Her skin was red and blotchy and tears stained her cheeks. With a gentle touch, Alexa wiped the water away and pushed the hair out of her face.

"Better?" she asked with a soft smile.

Her sister nodded, mutely.

"That's my badass little sister."

Lizzy cracked a smile and let out a cross between a sniffle and a laugh.

Alexa smiled with her, but suddenly distress colored her sister's face.

"I'm sorry, Alexa. I'm so, so sorry. It's all my fault." A new wave of tears began.

Alexa's brow furrowed. "Lizzy, what are you talking about?"

"If I'd gotten there sooner I could have—I could have stopped him sooner—I could—"

"Lizzy—slow down."

Her expression grew serious, and she grabbed her sister's face between her hands, forcing her to look at her.

"Lizzy, what happened? How did you stop Loki?"

Her sister's eyes filled with shame, and she looked everywhere but at Alexa.

"Lizzy, look at me," she commanded, firmly. Her sister's eyes moved back to her own. "It's okay, Lizzy. Just tell me what happened."

Her sister's eyes watered.

"I—I got angry," she whispered.

Alexa narrowed her eyes. "And then what happened?"

"And then I—"

Lizzy was cut off by the door slamming open.

"Tony—"

"Bruce, they've had a long enough reunion. It's time to get some answers. And look," he proclaimed, waving at the sisters. "They've both in one place. Two birds, one stone, Brucey."

Alexa narrowed her eyes at the man who walked in before Doctor Banner. She recognized his voice; he was the guy who had lied to her earlier about her sister.

He was about same height as Banner with similar coloring, dark hair and dark eyes. His eyes, however, were not as warm as Banner's had been, and his lips were twisted into a smirk that would have been grossly uncharacteristic on the doctor. He walked in as if he owned the place.

"Who the hell are you?"

Lizzy giggled in her arms. "Alexa that's Tony—"

"Tony Stark," he said, cutting off her sister. His smirk grew as Alexa's eyes widened in shock. "Let's save the hero worship and celebrity awe for later, okay? I have some questions for you missy."

Confusion filled her face. What would Tony Stark possible have to ask her?

"Tony, really, this can wait—"

"I disagree," he said firmly. "For starters, I want to know how the hell you ended up in _my_ private apartment."

Bruce rolled his eyes and dragged a hand down his face in exasperation.

Alexa was dumbfounded. "Uh—I walked up the stairs?"

Tony narrowed his eyes at her. "That's what they all say," he told her, suspicion filling his voice.

Alexa rolled her eyes. "Yes because the first thing I think to do during an alien invasion is to run to the great Tony Stark's house and try to _rob_ him."

Tony jumped back and pointed accusingly at her. "See! She admits it."

Bruce let out a sigh. "Tony, really—"

But Tony jumped right back into his 'inquisition'. "Now that that's settled, how about you explain how you managed to piss off reindeer games so much that he beat you within an inch of your life?"

Alexa flinched at the memory. "I—I said—" She stopped and considered her options for a moment. "I don't know," she said finally. "He was crazy." She shrugged as if that explained everything.

Tony raised an eyebrow at her. "You're lying. What did you make fun of the horns because I noticed that was a touchy subject with him…Or maybe it was his greasy hair? I'm sure he has some sort of image complex with that awful outfit and antlers."

Alexa shook her head.

He looked at her skeptically. "Fine, don't tell me. Let's move on to the next mystery for now, shall we?" His eyes turned to Lizzy.

"Now the brat has refused to talk about what happened, but we were hoping that with you could help fill in the blanks. How exactly did the munchkin take down Loki?"

Alexa felt Lizzy squeeze her hand. She glanced down to see her sister staring up at her pleadingly.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Mr. Stark," she said, turning to face him with a steady gaze.

Tony snorted. "You're a horrible liar."

Alexa raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you trying to make believe that the man—the _thing_—that threw me clear across the room with a twitch of his wrist was taken down by my _thirteen_ year old sister?"

"I don't have to make you believe anything. You already know it's true."

She glared at him. "I would like to know how my sister and I are any of your concern, Mr. Stark."

"When your sister scorches my apartment with electricity and takes down a Norse _god, _it becomes my concern."

Alexa opened her mouth to retort, but was cut off by the opening of the door. A tall woman, not much older than herself stood in the doorway.

"Tony have you seen Lizzy—" she paused when her eyes landed on the sisters on the bed. "Oh thank god. I was looking everywhere for you, Lizzy. Looks like your sister finally woke up, huh?"

The woman approached the bed with a warm smile. She stretched out a hand. "I'm Pepper Potts. It's so nice to finally meet you. Lizzy has told me so much about you."

Alexa shook her hand weakly, overwhelmed with the sudden shift of the mood in the room. A second ago she was fighting off verbal attacks and now she felt smothered by the motherly air this—Pepper—was giving off.

"Uh—nice to meet you too."

Satisfied with the introduction, Pepper took a step back and did a once over of the room. Alexa could see her put together what was going on as she took in Lizzy's panicked expression, her own defensive position, Tony's intimidating stance, and Bruce's exasperation.

Pepper's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Anthony Stark, do not tell me you have been giving the poor girl the third degree minutes after she woke up from a _month_ long _coma_."

Tony winced. "Pepper, dear, I was simply conversing—"

"Don't dear me, Tony! Get out, and let her get some rest. They'll be time for questions later," she said firmly. Her tone left no room for argument, but Tony tried anyway.

"But Pepper…"

"No. She needs to rest. Now scat."

Tony slumped begrudgingly towards the door. "I am only doing this because I haven't had a scotch in over three hours and—"

"Oh, of course," she said pacifyingly, following him out. Alexa got the impression this hadn't been the first time the woman had to smooth Tony's ruffled feathers.

Pepper paused in the doorway, a thought having struck her.

"Hey, Lizzy?"

Her blonde head popped up.

"Why don't you come with us, honey? Let's let your sister rest for a bit, while we go get ice cream. How does that sound?"

Lizzy looked as if she was going to fight her until Alexa gave her a little shove.

"Come on, twerp. Go with Pepper. I'm about to pass out, and I'm sure you've had your fill of watching me sleep, huh?"

Lizzy hesitated for a moment, but then hopped off the bed. "Okay, but I'll be back when you wake up! I'll tell JARVIS to make sure to let me know."

And with that she danced passed Pepper into the hallway.

"It was nice meeting you. Make sure to get some rest, okay? And don't worry about, Lizzy. I'll keep her busy." Pepper gave her one last smile before closing the door behind her.

Alexa let out a sigh and let her muscles relax into the mattress.

"One month, huh?" she asked, voice shaking slightly.

Banner nodded slowly and offered her a sympathetic smile. He moved closer to the bedside.

"You should feel lucky to have even woken up at all. Loki did a number on you."

Alexa was sure Bruce noticed how she flinched at the sound of his name, but was too kind to point it out.

"Lucky…"

"And lucky that you're sister stepped in when she did," Bruce pointed out.

Alexa's eyes widened a fraction. He looked down at her seriously. "The evidence is all there—there is no point in lying about it."

She avoided his gaze, clenching the sheets tightly.

"Even though he might come off as a…ass, Tony is doing you a favor by keeping you both here," Bruce explained. "Fury wanted to keep you both at a SHIELD facility."

Her eyes shot to his. "SHIELD? Loki—" She flinched. "He—he kept mentioning SHIELD. I think he mentioned Fury too. He thought—he thought I was sent by them." Her brow creased together in confusion. "What is SHIELD?"

Bruce sighed. "SHIELD stands for Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. It's an arm of the government, which deals with things of a more…unusual threat type."

"Such as an alien invasion?"

"Among other things, yes."

Alexa nodded, mind spinning as she tried to take it all in.

"Where is he now?" Part of her didn't even want to know the answer.

"Where he came from," Bruce said simply, but continued knowing she needed to be reassured. "A planet far, far away."

Alexa sighed in relief. "So he really was an alien, then?"

Bruce nodded.

"But then…are there more of him? Are they going to come back?"

He peered over his glasses at her. Loki had certainly done a good job of positively terrifying his patient.

"His people aren't a threat. They've protected the Earth before. Loki was sent home to face their justice."

"Good." She was pleased. He deserved to be punished. Though part of her wished he had been tried there on Earth, to have to look the families he destroyed in the eye and feel their hate.

"Would you be okay to take the morphine, now? I know you want to be alert, but the best thing for your body right now is rest—and lots of it."

Alexa raised her hands in surrender. "I won't stop you this time. My body feels like it's been hit by a truck. Some time without that feeling would be awesome."

He sent her a small smile, fiddling with the IV. "There's going to be a little sting," he told her, pushing the needle into her skin.

She let out a laugh laced with bitterness. "In comparison to everything I've felt that pretty much feels great."

A grim, pitying frown crossed his face. Alexa felt bad as he turned away and reached out to grab his arm.

"Sorry, that was a little dark," she said ashamedly.

"You have every right to be a little dark," he told her honestly.

She shook her head. "Doesn't mean I have to take it out on you." She took a deep breath and schooled her most sincere smile onto her face. "Thank you, Doctor Banner, for everything. I'm sorry I haven't been as appreciative as I should."

Bruce looked uncomfortable. "No—no. I really didn't do much—there's no reason to be thanking me. I—I'm not even—" He turned away from her.

"Just…accept it…" Her hand slipped off his arm. He glanced at her and found her fast asleep, morphing having kicked in.

He ran a hand through his hair and sighed, gathering some charts and walking to the door.

Sometimes he thought returning to Calcutta would have been a better choice—a less stressful occupation.

He rubbed his arm where the warmth of her hand lingered and glanced back at the sleeping figure one last time before stepping through the door.

Or maybe it wasn't.


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you to Miss Magenta Lestrange for being the first to review this story! Reviews really mean so much to me. And thanks to Artemis Sherwood, nightowl4829, and Penn Langley for adding this story to your favorites. Also kudos to everyone else whose following. **

**Hope you all enjoy.**

* * *

_Pride & Empathy_

Chapter 4

* * *

The door to her room swished open. Alexa made an irritated noise in the back of her throat, refusing to take her eyes off the TV.

"I swear to god Tony, if you ask me one more question I will beat you with my IV."

An uncomfortable cough sounded.

Alexa turned horrified. "Oh, Doctor Banner, I'm so sorry—I thought you were—well—Tony." She gave him a sheepish smile, one he returned.

"Don't worry," he said, walking over to her bedside. "I find myself wanting to beat Tony with all sorts of objects throughout the day." His tone was casual, but his eyes creased with amusement.

She let out a loud laugh. "Glad I'm not the only one."

He moved around the bed and began scanning the monitors. He could feel her eyes study him as he clicked around the monitors.

"Anything in particular bothering you today?" he asked, eyes not leaving the computers.

"Other than the fact I haven't been allowed to get out of this bed for a week and Tony's general presence in my life, no."

Bruce sent her a look.

"What? I think I'm well enough to at least walk around my room."

"You're leg is still broken."

"Well, hobble around my room then."

He rolled his eyes.

"Come on, Doctor Banner. One lap. Just one measly, tiny, little lap. It can't hurt, right?" she reasoned.

"Actually it could. You could rip your stiches, keep your ribs from setting right, and—"

"Okay, okay, I get it—bad stuff could happen, but what about my mental health?"

Bruce raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"Don't give me that look. I'm going crazy trapped in this tiny bed in this tiny room with only the TV to entertain me! If I don't move around soon, I'm going to start hatching an escape plan, and I guarantee I will get more injured during that than with a simple lap around the room with your doctor-y supervision." Her lips turned up smugly.

Bruce let out a breath of air, removing his glasses and rubbing his eyes. His patient was going to be the death of patience.

His eyes wandered the room, as his mind turned, trying to think of a way to discourage or distract her. The papers he had brought in caught his eye.

Tony had shoved them on him this morning, saying he was getting nowhere with Alexandra.

_You're going to have to get her to talk. Fury is breathing down my neck, and I'd like to have something to rub in his face. You're the only one she likes enough to talk to with an IQ comparable to mine. And if you tell Pepper I said that, I will deny it. _

Bruce rubbed his eyes, remembering the way Tony's eyebrows had waggled suggestively at him. He really didn't want to do this. He knew what it was like to want to keep some matters _private_ from the world.

"How about a trade?" he said finally.

"What sort of trade?" she asked suspicion lining her voice.

Bruce grabbed the papers and pulled a chair to her bedside. "You talk to me about what happened the day of the invasion—" Her mouth opened to protest, but he cut her off with a look. "_Actually _talk. No dodging questions, no pretending you don't know anything."

Alexa crossed her arms and huffed. "And what do I get from this deal?"

The corners of his mouth quirked upward. "I'll get a wheel chair, and we'll go on a little field trip."

Her face lit up. "Really? You're serious?" He nodded.

She stuck out her hand, pinky extended. He raised an eyebrow as if to say 'really?'

"I want a pinky promise," she explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world for a twenty-five year old to expect. "There's no deal unless you promise."

He kept his expression skeptical but extended his hand and wrapped his pinky around hers. She shook their hands, and for a moment all he could think of was how warm her finger was.

Bruce quickly retracted his hand. He coughed nervously. "Right, so, uh, how about you talk me through the day of the invasion?"

Her face fell. She blindly looked around the room, brows furrowed and lips pressed.

At her hesitance he tried something different. "Let me show you these pictures."

He reached into the folder and pulled out several images of Tony's apartment before the repairs, handing them over to her. He studied her face while she took them in. With each photo her eyes widened a fraction more.

"This here is the spot we found your sister," he elaborated, pointing to a spot where all the scorch marks began. "The electricity follows the wall and led to Loki here."

"Your sister did this," he told her as gently as possible. "We just want to know how."

Alexa took a deep breath and shuffled through the pictures. "I don't know—really, I don't. _She_ doesn't even know."

"But you have a guess, don't you?" Bruce peered at her over his glasses. Alexa stared at him a few moments before letting out a breath of air. "Yeah, yeah I do."

Bruce wrung his hands. "Look, I can try mention anything to Tony unless it's credible. I will check it out and do some research and if it comes back conclusive only then will I go to Tony. But it the meantime we can begin running some preliminary tests—"

"No!" she all but shouted at him.

Bruce flinched away, shoulders hunched and head ducked, as he instinctively pushed away from the bedside.

By her wide eyes and startled expression, he could tell she was just as shocked at her exclamation.

"Sorry that was…it's just…no tests."

He moved back towards her forgivingly, but his countenance grew even more solemn.

"Alexandra, you're sister…she could be in danger. The electricity could have had an adverse effect on her body and—"

"Look, I know my sister. She won't do it. She's scared and confused, and she's completely clammed up. She gets angry when I try to bring it up. If we try to ask her now she'll fight that much harder. Give me some more time…I'll try to reason with her—try to make her see that it's necessary."

He frowned. "I can't give you much time. We've already had to wait a month for your permission as her guardian. Not only could she be a danger to herself, but to everyone around her. We can't take that risk."

"Just two day—just give me two days, and I'll work it out with her. Please."

Bruce couldn't help but give in. He didn't stand a chance against those pleading blue eyes.

"Okay," he sighed. "Two days and then we start running tests. And I'll try to keep Tony off your back."

She relaxed into her pillows, her eyes full of gratitude. "What would I do without you, Doctor Banner?"

Bruce looked away and coughed. "Um, well—"

Alexa laughed, a light sound that caused a warmth to spread through his chest. "You're not terribly good with this interrogation thing, are you?"

His lips twitched humorously. "No, no I'm not. I've normally been on the other side of this conversation."

Alexa raised an eyebrow and grinned teasingly. "You, Doctor Banner? A troublemaker? I wouldn't believe it."

Bruce looked down at his twisting hands. "Yeah, well, I'm sure you wouldn't believe a lot of things about me…"

An uneasy silence settled over them.

"I can lick my elbow."

Bruce's head snapped up, and he looked at her incredulously. "What?"

She shrugged lightheartedly with a bright smile. "I can lick my elbow. It's something no one believes until I show them. Want to see?"

For a moment he was downright stunned, and then he let out a soft chuckle. "Sure."

Minutes and too many laughs later, Alexa had showed off her elbow licking skills, and Bruce had shown her how he was able to wiggle his ears.

"You look—so—so—hilarious" she gasped, her laughter leaving her breathless.

Bruce smiled and wiggled them again.

"Stop—I can't—I'll never stop laughing!" She reached out and pushed his shoulder lightly.

He held up his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay."

They stared at each other for a few moments, grinning like fools and breathing heavily from their laughter. Bruce realized with a jolt that he couldn't remember the last time he had felt so _carefree_.

The spell was broken though when Alexandra glanced down at the photos on her lap and became somber.

"I suppose you still want to know my idea, huh?" she asked with an edge of hope that he didn't.

He simply nodded his head, not wanting to dash her hopes verbally. She breathed deeply.

"All in the name of freedom, right?" she said with a small smile. He returned it.

"Right, okay, well…I'm not really sure where to begin. I mean it requires a bit of a…back story." She glanced at him questioningly.

He motioned for her to go on. "I've got time."

"Well, uh, my family is from New Mexico, a tiny speck of a town called Galisteo. It's in the middle of absolutely nowhere. I escaped as soon as I could, and ended up coming to New York for college. A little over a year ago—something…happened. There was a gas explosion, and the town was destroyed. Only a few survived…my sister was one of them. My parents weren't so…lucky.

"They all had been in their car, and some power lines somehow fell on it during the explosion. They were electrocuted—at least that's what I was told by the officers. Really the only thing I was sure of was that my sister suffered electrical burns, and through some miracle survived what my parents didn't. That's the only thing I can think of…Though now my sister is terrified of electricity and lightning. It reminds her too much of the accident. She even sleeps in my bed when there are thunderstorms."

Bruce sat back in his chair and tried to absorb everything she had just told him. He folded his hands under his chin.

_An electrical accident…a gas explosion…a town leveled…New Mexico…_

Why did all of it sound eerily familiar?

His eyes drifted back to her, and a part of his heart clenched. She looked as if she were in pain. Her face was all scrunched up, and her hands were clenched in fists at her side.

"Alexandra…are you okay?"

He reached out to touch her shoulder, but her head snapped up before he could. He was startled by her smile.

"Of course! It's time for my prison break! I held up my end of the bargain. Now it's time to hold up yours."

He was stunned for a moment, but returned the smile, indulging her.

"I'll go find a wheelchair."

He pushed away from the bed and headed for the door but hesitated for a moment.

"I'll keep my promise."

He glanced back to see her smile softly at him, appreciatively.

"Thanks, Doctor Banner."

"It's—just Bruce is fine."

"Then, I'm Alexa."

He nodded, all but running out of the room before he made a fool of himself by staring any longer.

* * *

"Oh Lizzy," Alexa sang, as Bruce pushed her off the elevator. "Guess who busted free just to come see you?"

According to Bruce, Lizzy had been placed on the 'guest' floor, or at least one of them. The floors came fully equipped with numerous bedrooms, bathrooms, a kitchen and a living room. But, as the only guest, Lizzy, her _thirteen_ year old sister, had the entire _floor_ to herself.

Alexa really shouldn't have been surprised by what she found.

It was as if a small bomb of clothing and food had gone off. Bits of popcorn and chips covered the carpet and couch in front of the huge flat screen TV along with what appeared to be every type of candy wrapper imaginable. Lumps of clothing were strewn across the backs of chairs and across the floor, adding bursts of color to the chaos.

"Elizabeth Marie!"

"No! No! Don't come in yet—" Lizzy froze once she caught sight of her sister and Bruce. "Opps—too late…"

"Too late, indeed. Now, get your butt over here," Alexa commanded.

"I think I'm okay over here."

"Elizabeth," she growled.

"Look it's just that the maid hasn't come today and—"

"A maid? When have we ever had a maid?"

Lizzy smiled brightly. "Mr. Stark has one. So we have one."

"A maid does not mean you get to trash the room. This isn't even our home and—" Alexa choked on her words, spying something colorful out of the corner of her eye. Her face turned bright red. "Is that—is that what I think it is?" she finally forced out, shock coloring her voice.

Lizzy went pale. "Uh—see there's a reasonable explanation for—"

"Why are my _bras_ on the coffee table!" Alexa shouted.

Bruce felt the blood rush to his face.

Lizzy winced. "I was doing a little testing…"

"Those are my _bras_!"

"I know that," Lizzy said finally, annoyance leaking into her voice. "You don't have to keep repeating it." She huffed and placed her hands on her hips.

"I can repeat it as many times as I want until I figure out why the hell you have my _bras_," Alexa cried, waving her arms.

"It was a scientific experiment!"

"They're _my_ bras! They don't get to participate in anything without my approval!"

"Well you weren't using them!"

"That doesn't matter! They're _mine_."

"You touch my stuff all the time!"

"That's because you leave your stuff all over the apartment! Trust me when I say I wouldn't touch it if I had a choice. But _I_, unlike _you_, can't stand to live in a war zone!"

"It's part of my genius!"

"It's a _mess_."

"You don't understand me!"

"Yeah because you're a brat!"

"No because you're an old grandma!"

"It's better than being on the verge of puberty!"

"Yeah, well at least _I_ know my boobs are going to get bigger!"

Alexa gasped and crossed her arms in front of her chest defensively. Her eyes narrowed dangerously.

"You better start counting the days until I get out of this chair 'cause that's how many days you have left to live!"

"Oh, I'm _so_ scared!"

"Go to your room!"

"Make me!" she sneered.

"You have five seconds before I e-mail your little journal thing to that boy you like!"

It was Lizzy's turn to gasp in horror. "You wouldn't dare!"

"Five…"

"You don't even know the password!"

Alexa rose an eyebrow challenging. "You really want to take that chance?"

"Four…"

"I don't even like anyone!"

"Does the name Luke Harper ring a bell?" Alexa said with a smug smirk. Lizzy's jaw dropped in outrage.

"Three…"

"I hate you!"

"I love you too, squirt." Alexa sent her a kissy face.

"Two…"

"Fine!" Lizzy let out a cry of frustration and stomped away. "I'm only leaving because I want to get far away from you!"

"Good!"

After her sister disappeared around the corner, Alexa slumped back against the chair and let out a sigh.

Face burning, Bruce cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Well—uh—that sure was…_something_."

"It was something, wasn't it?" Alexa laughed brightly, causing Bruce to think back to the medication he had given her that day. He couldn't recall giving her anything that would make her…_loopy_.

"That, my friend, is a classic example of sisterly love."

He raised an eyebrow. "Love, huh? It—uh—looked a little different from here," he told her.

"It's a sister's sole duty in life to make sibling's life hell." Alexa turned and patted his hand. "It's okay. It takes having a sister to understand."

Bruce nodded thoughtfully. His eyes drifted over to where Lizzy had just been standing. He couldn't stop himself from being a bit surprised. From what he had seen before he expected a more…maternal interaction.

"Don't worry about it—it surprises most people too. I guess everyone assumes after what happened I'd just take over and become my mom, but it doesn't work that way. We've been sisters for thirteen years. It's not something you can just stop…" she trailed off, the smile fading from her face.

Bruce felt guilty for even thinking it. Of course she couldn't just replace their mother—it'd be impossible.

Alexa tapped his hand again to get his attention.

He glanced down to find her smiling up at him again. "Luckily I've had thirteen years of bossing her around to help," she said, voice smug.

He chuckled softly. "I can tell."

Alexa nodded, signaling the close of the subject.

"Well, now that normalcy has been restored, where to now, Doc?"

"Uh—well, are you going to…" he trailed of, glancing at the colorful objects on the far table before quickly averting his gaze. His face became hot.

"What—oh…" Alexa ran a hand awkwardly through her hair, squirming in place. Why did her sister have to grab the neon, lacy ones? "Uh—how about we just leave those there for the time being?"

"Uh—right." He gulped and tried his best not to glance back at the pile. "Good plan."

With some extreme will power, he turned the wheelchair around and pushed her back into the elevator, never looking back once. If he could keep the Hulk in check, he was sure he could do a better job of keeping his hormones under control.

"Uh, Bruce?"

He turned to her, startled out of his thoughts.

"Are we going to just sit in the elevator?" she teased.

That was when he realized he hadn't pushed a button.

"Oh—right."

He moved to do so, but then paused.

"Actually, I have no idea where to take you," he admitted sheepishly.

She laughed. "All of Stark Tower at your fingertips, and you don't know where to take me?"

He gave an uneasy smile and shrugged. "I haven't really done much exploring. And it's just that most of the areas I frequent are, well, classified."

Her mouth popped open. "Oh."

"Sorry." He began wringing his hands.

"Don't worry about it—it just means we'll have to explore together."

She covered her eyes and reached out blindly for the buttons. "I choose…you!"

The button for the twenty third floor lit up, and the elevator began moving downward.

She sent him a mischievous smile. "It's time to live life on the edge."

He chuckled. If this was living life on the edge, what the hell had he been doing for the last couple of years?

He stared down at her honey colored hair as they waited.

There was something about her—something carefree. He would call it childishness, but she was anything but a child. It was different. It was like a breath of fresh air or a warm ray of sunlight. She had an approach to life that was…honest. She enjoyed it, and in turn it seemed to flow out of her. Was it as simple as that?


	5. Chapter 5

**Thanks to Miss Magenta Lestrange, gretchenb123, BritanyJean, AnApatheticAdolescent, and fafinette for reviewing! Also thanks to everyone who favorited this story and those who are following. It all means a lot. **_  
_

* * *

_Pride & Empathy_

Chapter 5

* * *

Bruce had only been able to sleep a few short hours before the incessant tug of waiting research pulled him down to his lab.

Hours later with the sun just beginning to rise, he had failed to make any serious headway into the case of the town of Galisteo. He had sorted through countless articles, which parroted each other, reviewed every page of the gas company's investigation reports, which left much to the imagination, and watched every press release made by the government, which were vague yet remorseful at best.

In summary, he hadn't found a damn thing.

Everything checked out. Sure there was a gross lack of information regarding witness accounts and survival stories, but again that didn't raise much of a red flag with him. Perhaps there really wasn't anything to Alexa's hunch.

Halfway through the night he had begun researching cases of electrocution and miraculous survivals. He had poured over all known side effects and abnormalities. Heart irregularities, numbness, loss of motor control, tingling of limbs, etc. had all been mentioned; however, nothing had given any indication of there ever being a case with a more…_unique_ byproduct.

By that point Bruce had been ready to pound his head on the table in frustration.

_If only he could just run some tests, he'd have more of an idea of what he was looking for…_

He groaned audibly.

"JARVIS, what time is it?"

"It is five fifty-five, Doctor Banner."

He took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes tiredly. He was running low on options.

Something made him keep looking though. Words really couldn't describe it. A gut feeling was the closest he could come. Whatever it was, though, told him to continue searching.

He took a large gulp of tea before turning back to the illuminated monitors.

Perhaps he should go back to the beginning…

He opened up folders containing the research he had done hours ago on the town. Clicking on a random video file, he watched the news reporter interview a man in a black suit and sunglasses on the site of the terrible tragedy.

"_Our hearts go out to the families of those killed in this tragic accident. The United States Government is doing everything it can to make sure nothing of the likes of this disaster will occur again."_

Men dressed similarly walked determinedly behind him. Black SUVs were parked alongside fire trucks, search and rescue vehicles, and ambulances.

"_And just what sort of regulations will keep such an incident from happening again?"_

"_I'm sorry, ma'am, but I am not at liberty to go into that sort of information at the moment. The situation is still very fresh and delicate. Now if there are no further—"_

Bruce froze the video. For a moment he could have sworn he had seen…

He started the video again from five seconds early, staring intently at the men over the interviewee's shoulder.

A group entered the scene from the right of the screen. In two seconds one of them would turn their head and look towards the camera…

_There._

Bruce paused the video feed and zoomed in on the man's face.

His jaw dropped.

_Agent Coulson._

The man on the screen was _the _Agent Phil Coulson of SHIELD. The man who retrieved Tony; the man who had hero worshipped Steve; the man who had singlehandedly united the Avengers upon his death.

If he had been on the scene of the Galisteo disaster that meant that SHIELD had been involved. The words he told Alexa sprung to mind.

_It's an arm of the government, which deals with things of a more…_unusual_ threat type._

The explosion that leveled Galisteo was not just a simple gas explosion then. Something, or someone, had been involved to cause SHIELD's presence.

It suddenly clicked.

_Last year earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town._

Those had been Director Fury's words on the Hellicarier, just before all hell had broken loose. The accident that had killed Alexa's family hadn't been that at all. It had been an all-out attack—by aliens no less.

Bruce dropped his head into his hands.

Alexa couldn't even fathom just how on the mark her hunch had been.

An attack of such could have had all sorts of ramifications on the human body—unknown and possibly adverse ramifications. The radiation alone from space could have—

"Bruce!"

He sprang up out of his chair just as Tony waltzed into the lab. Without saying anything, Tony then proceeded to slam a large folder in front of him

Bruce lowered his glasses and raised an eyebrow.

"Well aren't you looking bright and chipper this morning, sunshine," Tony said with his usual energy.

Bruce rubbed his eyes. It was too early, and he was too exhausted to deal with Tony.

"I have some exciting news for you, Big Guy."

Bruce rolled his eyes. "Ask Pepper to marry you yet?"

Tony momentarily lost his footing as he sputtered indignantly at Bruce's guess. "Well—uh—no—that's not why I'm here!"

Ignoring him, Bruce reached for the folder to begin skimming through whatever new project Tony had planned for him.

"Wait," Tony declared, slamming a hand down onto the folder, keeping it shut. "I would listen to what I have to say first."

"Okay," Bruce complied, "let's hear it, Tony." He folded his hands under his chin and leaned against his desk.

Tony's lips quirked up in smug satisfaction. "Yes, well, I just thought I'd be the one to tell you first that your little girlfriend—" Tony raised a hand to silence Bruce's inevitable protest. "Your little girlfriend forgot to mention quite a few important _details_ of her little rendezvous with our beloved, spoiled Prince."

Bruce's eyebrows shot up.

"See, JARVIS just finished repairing and piecing together the information from the security cameras in my apartment. Tragically, the data had almost been lost when the lightning that took down Loki fried everything electronic in the room. However, I'm Tony Stark. And I wanted to see those videos. Thus, my will be done."

Tony gave a great bow. "Save your compliments and congratulations for later because we have a movie to show our little friend. On that note—JARVIS is Ms. Adams awake?"

"No sir."

Tony grinned impishly. "I suppose we'll just have to wake her up ourselves." He then finally turned back to Bruce. "Come on, Doc. Let's go visit your patient. You can watch the video on the way."

Ever impatient, Tony swept out the room before Bruce had been able to get up. He grabbed his glasses and rubbed his temples, following the billionaire out.

He sensed his headache was only get to get worse from there on out.

* * *

"Rise and shine, princess!"

"Huh?"

Alexa blearily opened her eyes to find an incredibly energetic Tony Stark and absolutely exhausted Bruce Banner at the end of her bed.

"JARVIS, lights please," Tony commanded.

The white fluorescent lights of the medical room turned on, causing Alexa to hiss and slam her head into her pillow.

"Give a girl some warning!" Her voice was muffled and barely intelligible from behind the pillow, but she continued to ramble and mutter insults about 'stupid, narcissistic playboys with no concept of personal space'.

"It's what you get for sleeping in."

"Sleeping in?" Alexa cried, finally uncovering her face. "It's barely even six in the morning!"

"Precisely," Tony countered. "Quite the slacker you are, among other things."

Alexa stared at him incredulously. The billionaire never failed to absolutely dumfound her.

"Wait," she said, narrowing her eyes. "Among _what_ other things?"

"Oh, I don't know, a liar?"

Her eyebrows disappeared into her hair line. "Excuse me—"

"You're not excused," Tony said, cutting her off.

"I'm not a liar," she declared firmly.

His dark eyes bored into her, and she grabbed her pillow and hugged it to her chest, as if to use it as a shield against him.

"Evidence would lead one to think different."

Her brow furrowed and her lips dipped down. "Evidence? What evidence? What are you talking—"

"JARVIS, please pull up the security feed."

She flinched back in confusion. "Security feed—"

Suddenly, it was if the air had left her lungs. A stone seemed to have settled in her stomach.

There on the screen was she and Loki in Stark's apartment. They began talking.

She sucked in a shallow breath, hands beginning to shake. He was right there. The man that haunted the shadows of her dreams, the man that woke her up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. She closed her eyes. She was going to be sick, she was sure of it.

"Yes, well, I have to say you didn't really go down with grace."

She heard the sound of glass breaking and knew that in the video she had just been thrown into the wall. She didn't want to see it; she didn't want to relive it, the terror, the desperation, the helplessness.

"Turn it off."

"Oh, but we're about to the best part—you're about call him a child and then he smacks—"

"Turn it off!" she yelled this time. Her chest rose and fell rapidly. She was likely on the verge of an all-out panic attack.

Tony stared at her, his face deadly serious. "JARVIS, please pause the feed."

Alexa took the time to try to calm herself down. He wasn't there. He was far, far away where he could never get to her again.

Her hands fisted. She didn't want to be scared. She didn't want to flinch at his name. She didn't want to be such a coward.

"Now, no one is leaving this room until you tell us exactly what you know and how the hell you know it," Tony told her, perching on a nearby chair.

"Uh—"

"No lies, Alexandra," Bruce spoke up, voice cold.

Her head swiveled to look at him. He leant against the far wall, shoulders hunched and hands wringing. Alexa's heart plummeted when she saw the distrustful look on his face. She couldn't look at it a moment longer.

She turned to Tony, but regretted it immediately. His intense stare left her tongue tied. Without much of a choice, she directed her gaze down at her lap.

"You don't understand…"

"What don't we understand? That you lied to us? I think we've got that pretty figured out."

She let out a large breath of air. "Do you ever shut up?" She meant it to come out biting, but it just emphasized how exhausted and despondent she was.

"Rarely," Tony deadpanned.

She couldn't help but snort.

Alexa tried to sort her thoughts. What could she even tell them? _She_ didn't even know what the hell had happened.

She took a deep breath. "Look, I didn't say anything because I didn't know what to say. Before I walked into your apartment that day I had never heard of—of _Loki_, of SHIELD, of any of these things. I didn't know _anything_."

Bruce shook his head. "But you had to have—those things you said, they were things no one could know."

Her frustration with the situation, with the lack of answers, with _everything_ began to bubble up. "Well if _no one_ could have known, then I certainly couldn't have either!"

Bruce countered voice even, "but you did."

"I know! And I don't know how! One minute I was terrified, the next he was telling me that he was responsible for killing hundreds of people and destroying Midtown, and I just lost it! I started yelling. I didn't even know what I was saying. Something just…clicked."

"Clicked?" Tony questioned, skepticism saturating his voice.

Alexa narrowed her eyes at him. "I just _knew_ okay. I don't know how—I just did."

Tony folded his hands under his chin. "What makes you think we should believe you? You've lied to us once already."

She felt like pulling out her hair. "Look, what was I supposed to say? Oh, as a side note when I was being confronted by this alien thing I just kind of started saying some personal stuff that seemed to really hit home with him, and he decided to then beat the shit out of me. You would all think I was crazy! Hell, _I_ still think I'm going crazy!"

Her chest rose and fell rapidly. She wanted to be done with this. She wanted to go back to her life before the alien attack—before she was scared to fall asleep—before she was being held captive by Tony-freaking-Stark.

"Have you done it with other people?"

"Huh?" Alexa and Tony both turned to Bruce confused.

"Have you had anything 'click' with anyone else?"

Alexa furrowed her brow. "I can't really…I—I've never really thought about it…"

"Well now's the perfect time to start."

She had to bite her tongue to keep from yelling an obscenity at Tony, instead settling for glaring at him.

"Look it's not something I even notice happening. I just suddenly do. Thoughts, facts just pop into my head—it's only really happened with _him_—"

A dawning look of revelation blossomed across her face.

"So who was it?" Tony demanded smugly, reading her expression easily.

The surprise ran from her face, leaving behind anxiousness.

"Um…I'm not even sure…nothing about it made sense…it sounds crazy…"

Tony threw up his hands. "Look, we passed crazy a couple of miles back, so just spit it out."

Her eyes darted nervously around the room, lingering on Bruce every few moments. "I'm not sure I should…it's has no basis on anything…"

Tony's face lit up. "It happened with Banner, didn't it?"

Alexa recoiled in surprise.

"Genius, remember?" he told her arrogantly.

Opting to ignore him, Alexa glanced over at Bruce to gauge his reaction. He looked just as disturbed as she expected, anxiously shifting his weight and wringing his hands. She knew he wanted to run—to escape.

"So, spill! Do I have to prompt you to do everything?"

Alexa huffed indignantly.

"Some of us have a sense of personal _privacy_," she hissed. The irritation though fell away from her when she glanced over at Bruce. "I just don't want to…intrude…"

Tony snorted. "You suddenly seem confident in your abilities. Let me remind you that this one little thing might have been a complete fluke. Or maybe Loki fed you that information and beat you up, knowing we'd want to fix you up. Is that it? You're Loki's little spy? Or someone else's spy?"

"Fine!" Alexa yelled. Tony had officially pushed her to her breaking point. "It was hate. I felt hate, okay?"

Tony snorted. "I'm not impressed."

She glared. "I wasn't done." She inhaled deeply, organizing her thoughts. "It wasn't normal hate…it was self-hatred. And it was anger…so much anger—I felt like I could taste it. Fear too. But fear…fear of himself…fear of the anger." Her hands twitched anxiously. "Look—I told you it didn't make any sense—it's stupid and wrong—"

The sound of glass hitting the ground broke Alexa from her rambling. She swiveled towards the noise to find Bruce's glasses shattered on the floor and the man frozen in place, jaw tense.

Tony whistled appreciatively, drawing her attention back to him. She welcomed his positive reaction—anything was better than the horrified look on Bruce's face.

"You might actually be telling the truth."

She growled. "I'm not a liar, Stark."

He waved her off. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Back to important things, is that all you got? Have any magic intuitions on the source of anger or anything?"

Her eyes darted over to Bruce, but she immediately had to look away again, unable to face his suddenly pale complexion.

"No—that was it. And I don't understand—it isn't right. Bruce wasn't angry—he was the exact opposite really. There was no reason for me to feel such…_rage_. There was no reason for it."

Tony gave her a grim little smile. "You really don't know anything, do you?" He spoke to her like she was a child.

She glared. "A fact I've been trying to convince everyone I've met recently."

Tony snorted. "Well, you've sucked spectacularly at that." He stood and began pulling out the wires from the arm.

She hissed. "Ouch—_owe_." She tried to slap his hands away. "What are you doing? That _hurts_."

"Don't be a baby. And what does it look like I'm doing? Unplugging you."

"Yeah, but _why_, smartass?" she bit back, holding her arm to her chest protectively.

"It's time to run some tests, right Banner?"

Bruce seemed to snap out of whatever spell he had fallen under. "What?"

Tony rolled his eyes. "Come on, Banner, I know you're getting old, but try to keep up."

Bruce sighed.

"I think sticking her in an MRI and looking at her brain might do the trick, right Doc?"

Alexa shrunk back. "Why do you need to look at my brain?"

Bruce's brows knitted together. "That might actually be a good idea. The things she's picking up are emotions and certain areas of the brain light up when we process other's emotions. Particularly negative ones."

"Duh," Tony replied, but Bruce was already absorbed in thoughts of scientific tests to be run.

"We could use different stimuli—perhaps showing her the tape with Loki? Have her relieve the moment and see what it triggers? Study how her amygdala responds?"

Tony walked over and slapped him on the shoulder. "Now you're talking, Banner. I'll go set up the lab—you bring her up."

Tony darted out of the room, and Bruce's words of protest died in his throat.

A heavy awkwardness settled over the room. Neither occupant knew what say. Bruce had no doubt in his mind that Tony had intentionally placed him in this position. Tony never failed to push Bruce out of his comfort zone.

"On the bright side, if I go through some tests, I'm sure I can guilt Lizzy into doing the same. So you should have a _real_ test subject soon."

Bruce turned surprised. She gave him a hesitant smile. He nodded stiffly, still not comfortable with being so…_violated_.

"Then let's get you downstairs."

He moved across the room and unfolded the wheelchair. After pushing it to her bedside, he held it steady as she slipped into it. Just as he began maneuvering them to the door, she spoke up.

"Bruce, wait."

Her hand came to rest on his forearm, as she twisted to face him.

"I'm sorry—I really am. It was never intentional, and I never planned on mentioning it. I'm so, _so _sorry."

Bruce softened under her sincere words. "It's…okay," he breathed.

She shook her head, curls bouncing around. "No, no it's not. No one should feel violated. And I'm sorry I made you feel that way. It's not okay, but I hope you can…forgive me."

Bruce let his eyes linger closed for a moment, overwhelmed by the soft feeling spreading through his chest.

"I understand if you need time—or if you never want to hang out with me again—or just want to flat ignore me—"

It was his turn to cut her off, and he did so by placing a hand on top of her own, which rested on his arm.

"You don't have to explain. I know what it's like to have something you can't…control hurt the people around you. I don't need time, and I'm not going to ignore you. I forgive you."

Her face lit up in one of the brightest smiles he'd seen her wear. "Thank you, Bruce!" Her body lurched up and awkwardly tried to hug him.

In reality she just ended up just wrapping her arms around his arms, the only things she could reach. A laugh bubbled out from her, one that made it impossible for him to not laugh with her.

"When I get out of this chair I'll give you a proper hug."

Bruce smiled down at her with a slight playful edge that wasn't there before.

"You don't have to wait."

Impulsively he circled around the chair and crouched in front of her, arms open.

It was at that point, his brain kicked in and he asked himself what the hell he was doing. But his thoughts didn't get further than that, for Alexa immediately threw herself at him.

The warmth he felt before had multiplied tenfold. All thoughts of how stupid an idea it was were smothered by the feeling of utter contentment that spread through his body.

He didn't know how long they sat there, but it felt like too soon when she pulled away with a big smile.

"For the last time, Bruce, it's Alexa."

He smiled sheepishly back at her, remembering that he had in fact slipped and called her Alexandra.

"Yes, ma'am."

She nodded, pleased.

"Now, Jeeves, to the labs! I have an appointment with Mr. Stark that I feel would leave him cross should I be late." Her British accent was exaggeratedly snooty, emphasized by the fact she tilted her head up as if she smelt something bad.

Bruce chuckled as he rose and moved back around the chair.

"Of course, Lady Alexa."

She grinned and raised an arm. "Forward!"


	6. Chapter 6

Sorry for the wait everyone. Hope you enjoy the long chapter. Thanks again to anyone whose reviewed, favorited, or added this story on any sort of list! It means the world to me and inspires me to continue!

* * *

_Pride & Empathy_

Chapter 6

* * *

Alexa rolled over for what felt like the hundredth time.

Sleep was not going to come for her tonight, not after the day she had had.

Tony and Bruce had strapped her down and stuck her in an MRI for hours. Over and over they had shown her images of people expressing different emotions. Exaggerated faces of men and women had appeared on a little screen above her.

After that portion came the scenes of disasters, of tragedies, of tremendous suffering: starving people, children with cancer, victims of tsunamis and earthquakes, refugees of genocide.

And when she felt she could take no more, when it felt like she had no more silent tears to cry, the mood shifted.

She was bombarded with images of happiness, of miracles, of the goodness of humanity: couples in love, births of children, ordinary people who had become heroes.

Just when she had begun to think that the entire experience had not been _utterly_ awful, they showed _the video_, as she began to call it.

_The_ _video_ was the footage caught of her and Loki's brief but _impressionable_ meeting.

As if those dark eyes hadn't haunted her unconsciousness enough, she had to stare at the scene she had watched countless times in her dreams for what felt like a millennium.

She had lost track of the amount of times Bruce had had to remind her to keep still in the MRI for her shaking had become uncontrollable while watching the scene unfold. He had tried to reassure her, telling her if she could simply sit still for long enough they could get a few accurate readings and the sooner it would all be over.

That had not helped.

She had been on the verge of vomiting the entire time and had simply not said a word to spite the two scientists. If she had thrown up it would have been all over their brand-spanking-new MRI and that idea gave her a sick sense of satisfaction.

Though through some sort of will power she hadn't known she possessed, she complied for an hour to be subjected to the horror of the incident. She had repeated to herself that if she could just stop being afraid, it would all be all right. If she could just squash the tremors of fear that traveled down her spine upon laying eyes on that _thing_, everything would be better.

It was easier said than done.

And consequently, she lay wide awake at roughly three in the morning next to her blissfully unaware sister.

Alexa felt after all the drama of the day she needed to spend more time with Lizzy, the one and only reminder of normality she had in her life at that point. The two had stayed up talking, which involved a lot of Alexa convincing Lizzy that the tests Tony and Bruce ran on her did not hurt a bit—a half lie—and Lizzy relating _again_ everything she had done and seen while Alexa had been unconscious.

Lizzy had explained how she had explored the _entire _tower—an exaggeration Alexa was sure— and had been allowed to follow Pepper and Tony around _all _day—another doubtful occurrence. Alexa hadn't known if she should have been surprised or not at the fact that Lizzy hadn't been allowed outside the tower or permitted to contact anyone the whole time. That aspect of their stay hadn't really bothered Lizzy yet, so overwhelmed by the 'awesomeness' of the tower and the 'crazy celebrity life of _the _Tony Stark' was she.

On the other hand, it terrified the hell out of Alexa.

If Lizzy hadn't been able to contact anyone, what did all their friends think had happened to them? Did they assume because they had never shown up after the attack they were dead? Did they even try looking for them? For that matter, did _they_ even survive?

And what about their apartment? She hadn't paid rent, so did the owner toss out all their furniture and rent it to someone else? And her job? She hadn't shown up, and it had been over a month. Did they think she and her sister were dead too?

It was all too much to consider.

She rolled over again.

If she was being honest with herself, which she didn't much feel like doing, she would admit that the only reason she was sleeping in her sister's room was because she was terrified. Like a child scared of the monster in the closet, Alexa was afraid to sleep alone. It was not rational. She knew that Loki would not just pop out from under her bed and finish the job he started. He was light years away. And even if he wasn't and he did decide to show up, Alexa sleeping in her little sister's bed was not going to stop him from doing anything.

The thought left her more awake than before. Every creak, every squeak of the tower caused her heart to race and her senses to shift into full survival, fight or flight mode. It was exhausting.

Fed up, Alexa rolled over one last time and slid out from underneath the covers. As she tiptoed out of the room, she kept a careful eye on Lizzy to make sure she stayed asleep.

The shadows in the hallway and then the living room did nothing to relax her. She needed light; she needed people. And she knew exactly where to find someone at that late hour.

Minutes later she walked out of the elevator into the lab where Tony and Bruce spent a great deal of their free time and where they had run the tests on her earlier.

Alexa was not surprised to see Bruce, back facing her, hunched over a computer screen.

"About time you got back—I didn't realize it took so long to get coffee," he said without turning.

She smiled a little to herself.

"Sorry—I can leave and go get some, if you want."

Surprised, Bruce swiveled around to face her. "Alexa? What are you doing up at this hour?"

She shrugged and moved further into the lab. "Couldn't sleep."

Bruce peered at her over his glasses. "I would have thought you would have passed out after everything we put you through today."

She looked down at some of the work scattered across the long tables.

"Guess not," she replied with an air of unimportance.

It was obvious to Bruce that that was the extent of information he was going to get.

"So what have you two mad scientists discovered about this brain of mine, huh?"

"Mood Ring, what a surprise!"

Tony waltzed into the lab holding a large Styrofoam Starbucks. She didn't want to think of who had been woken up to fetch _the _Tony Stark Starbucks at three in the morning.

Probably an intern.

Poor thing.

"I leave for a few minutes, and you decide to fraternize with the enemy? I didn't think you had it in you, Bruce," Tony said.

Bruce raised an eyebrow, while Alexa huffed. Tony had been making little stabs at her all day, and she had given up fighting them. The truth was that Tony was far wittier than she could ever hope to be, and their verbal spats normally ended with him saying something outstandingly clever and her saying something spectacularly retarded.

"I was just asking Bruce if you had found anything so far," she informed.

Tony tusked at her. "Do you have any idea who I am? Of course we've found something."

Alexa rolled her eyes. "So what is it?"

Tony turned to a monitor and began working, uninterested. "Just because we've found something doesn't mean we have to tell you." He waved a hand in her direction. "Shouldn't you be in bed or something?"

"No, and yes it does."

"No it doesn't."

"It's my brain," she reasoned.

"It's my research," Tony countered.

"Yeah— on _my_ brain."

By this point Bruce had turned away from the two and continued working. He had no desire to get in the middle of that fight.

"I don't see your point."

Alexa threw her arms in the air.

"I deserve to know if there's something going on with _my_ brain."

Tony finally turned to look at her, expression serious.

"Do you? Do you _really_ want to know? Because I think ignorance really suits your whole 'damsel-in-distress' image."

The corners of her lips curved down. "Not all of us are lucky enough to have ridiculous sums of money to meddle in any damn thing we want."

"Yes, well currently my money and _meddling_ are the only things standing between you and Sparky and some SHIELD military base in the Rockies."

There was a pregnant pause during which Alexa seemed to deflate, along with any motivation she had to continue arguing.

"Look, Stark, I'm really thankful for what you've done and I—"

"Apology accepted." He waved dismissively at her. "Don't break anything on your way back to bed."

Her eyes narrowed. She was sure no other human being had frustrated and irritated her quite as well as Tony freaking Stark.

"I wasn't going to apologize," she ground out between clenched teeth.

She was _not_ going to give him the satisfaction of exploding.

"Grovel then?"

"Stark, just tell me what you found. _Please_," she forced out, barely withholding a growl.

"Tony…" Bruce warned, finally deciding to step in. It wasn't like he was going to be able to work with them arguing back and forth all night anyway.

Tony rolled his eyes. "Fine," he complied, a hint of a whine in his voice. "Don't think taking her side is going to get you into her pants, though."

Bruce let out a cross between a gag and a cough and quickly turned to hide his red face.

"So, what is it?" Alexa said derailing that topic of conversation before Tony took it any farther.

Tony sighed exasperatedly. "Follow me, Mood Ring." He walked over to a large set of monitors. She hurried after him.

"This," Tony said, pulling up an image, "is your brain."

Standing on her toes, Alexa peered over his shoulder. A black and white image of a brain filled the screen. Amazement colored her face. That was her brain. She was looking at her_ brain_—the thing that made her, well, _her._

"And this is your brain's average response to the negative emotions we showed you."

Another similar image appeared; however, portions of the MRI were now lit up red.

"Those are the areas of the brain used to interpret and process the gestures, tones, whatever of other people—to dumb it down for you, it's how we tell if someone's sad or happy. It's how we empathize," Tony explained in a pace that made her head spin.

"This spot here," he said, pointing to a large spot of red near the back of her brain. "That is your amygdala. Memorize that. Got it? Good." He rushed through, obviously feeling it a waste of his time to explain these things to her non-genius intellect.

"Now this is how a normal person's brain appears in response to similar stimuli."

Another MRI appeared on the screen. The difference was immediately noticeable. Far smaller patches of red colored the brain.

"That tiny red spot there is a normal person's amygdala. Now, if you haven't figured it out quite yet, their red spot is smaller than yours," Tony said slowly, as if talking to a child. She rolled her eyes and clamped her mouth shut. Of course he felt the need to clarify that aspect of the research, as if she couldn't tell the difference.

"Is that that weird? Maybe I just had more blood flow or—"

"No, what it means is that your amygdala is abnormally—in fact freakishly—large." He spoke as if talking of what he had for breakfast that morning and not telling her that there was something wrong with her _brain_.

"What does that mean exactly?" she asked, trying to keep the anxiousness that had begun to creep into her from leaking into her voice.

"Well, it normally means you're autistic," Tony deadpanned.

Alexa's jaw dropped. "What?"

"Though you haven't shown any signs of autism…" He suddenly got very close to her face, eyes boring into her. She nearly toppled over trying to shuffle away. Satisfied, he straightened up. "No, no signs of autism, so that side-effect can be ruled out." He turned back to the monitors, indifferent to her once again.

Breathing heavily, she tried to wrap her mind around the situation. "So what does having a larger, uh, amygdala mean for _me_ then?"

He shrugged. "Well, we could say it's why you've suddenly become a human mood ring, but it's just a guess."

She ignored his taunts and pressed on. "But how can you be sure? Was I always like that? Maybe it was just a birth defect or something…"

Tony shook his head. "No, if it had happened when you were younger, you would certainly be autistic. The change had to be further along in the development of your brain."

Alexa shook her head in disbelief. "How can you be so sure?"

Exasperated, he sighed. "Well, I can't be absolutely sure but—"

He stopped abruptly and straightened, whipping around to face her. His face lit up as if a thought had struck him.

"Have you ever suffered a head injury?"

Her eyes widened, and confusion colored her face. "What?"

Tony made an impatient noise. "Have you ever had a concussion?" he repeated slowly. "Really, try to keep up Mood Ring."

"Yeah, actually, I have. I got into a car accident a couple years back. What's that got to do with anything though?"

"Did you have an MRI done?" he pushed.

"Uh, yeah…" she said, uncertain why all of that was suddenly terribly important.

Tony turned his back to her again and began clicking away at the monitor. "JARVIS, look up all medical records for Alexandra Adams in the last ten years."

"Yes, sir" came the robotic response.

Alarmed, Alexa moved forward. "Wait, you can't just do that. That's private!"

Tony rolled his eyes at her. "Seriously, you want to talk privacy? I think you forfeited that right a while back, Mood Ring."

She huffed and glanced over at Bruce's back guiltily. A few unintelligible grumbles left her lips, but besides that she kept quiet, something that relieved Tony.

"Sir, the files are transferring now."

"Thank you, JARVIS." Tony then turned to call over his shoulder at Bruce. "If you're done blushing over there, Big Guy, I need you to come take a look at this."

With a deep sigh, Bruce moved over to them and stood beside Tony to examine the monitor, effectively blocking Alexa's complete view of the screen. Knowing even if she could see all of it, she'd really have no idea what she was looking at, she turned instead to studying the side of Bruce's face to find out just what exactly was going on.

After a few moments of surveying the new image Tony brought up Bruce's eyebrows shot up. Alexa sucked in a nervous breath.

"Well that's certainly is a surprise," Bruce said finally.

"What is it?" Alexa asked, shifting closer to Bruce and placing a hand on his shoulder to stable herself as she peered over him. He flinched away in surprise, causing her to dig her fingers into his shoulder to keep upright.

"Exactly how old were you when this was taken?" Bruce questioned, lowering his shoulder after seeing her struggle to see. The effort was in vain though. Even looking at the image, Alexa couldn't really determine anything. It looked just like the MRI they had just taken.

"Uh, it was two years ago so I should have been twenty-four or nearly there."

Bruce nodded thoughtfully. "The brain is the last organ to stop growing. At around twenty-five our brains fully develop. So what we're looking at here is more than likely your 'adult' brain."

Alexa tried to appear as if she followed, but she couldn't help the way her brow furrowed. Bruce gave her a sympathetic smile.

"You see here," he said, pointing to an area of her brain. "That is your amygdala. It's not definite, but it appears to fall within the norm."

"So…" she began.

Tony finally spoke up. "It means that the change in your brain happened recently. And it was not part of your brain's growth. It wasn't natural."

She flinched back. "Not natural? How is that possible?"

Tony's forehead creased, as he stared intently at the image. It was if he scrutinized it enough, it would yield answers. "Your blood tests all came back clear, so if it was a result of chemical exposure, the chemical is no longer in your blood stream. If it wasn't, it would have to have been external. Maybe some sort of radiation exposure…?"

Abruptly Bruce backed away from the monitor, rubbing his forehead. Exhaustion pulled at his face as he rubbed his eyes. Tony and Alexa turned and watched him curiously.

"I hadn't thought to mention it until now, but last night I did some research. I looked into a hunch Alexa had."

Her brow furrowed quizzically, but smoothed as realization dawned on her.

"Galisteo? You looked into the Galisteo disaster?" she asked, voice faint.

Bruce nodded solemnly.

Tony stepped forward. "Hold up. I wasn't included in this little secret sharing, so would anyone care to fill me in on what the hell we're talking about?"

Bruce sent Alexa a questioning glance, but a far-off look had settled in her eyes. He would have to explain.

"Alexa and her family lived in a small town in New Mexico—Galisteo. A year ago a gas explosion leveled the town, killing..." Bruce was at a loss for words.

"Killing my parents," Alexa interjected voice flat. "My sister survived—barely. The burns from the electrocution nearly killed her."

Expression unchanging, Tony stared at her a moment longer before turning to Bruce.

"Well that's all fine and depressing, but how exactly does that relate to anything?"

Bruce sent him an exasperated look before moving to one of the computers. "Alexa thought that the electrocution incident might have had some effect on Elizabeth and her current…_abilities._ I dug up anything I could find on the incident," Bruce explained. "One of the news reports revealed something…surprising."

Tony clicked his tongue impatiently. "You're going to make us watch it, aren't you?"

Bruce responded by simply pulling up the video. He skipped the first couple of minutes of the report, getting right to the heart of the matter.

"What no popcorn?"

Bruce ignored him.

"Watch the group that is about to step into the screen over the man's right shoulder," he told them.

Alexa did as she was told, but didn't really understand what she was looking for. On screen a group of men entered the background of the news feed. They were all dressed in black suits with dark sunglasses. Halfway through, one lifted his glasses to glance in the direction of the camera. She heard Tony suck in a breath.

"Well damn." Tony leaned back and crossed his arms. "This changes everything."

Alexa bit her lip in frustration. She was tired of being the only one who seemed to not know what the hell was going on.

"Who was that? Why does he matter?"

Tony glanced at her with something akin to pity. "That man is—was— Agent Coulson. He was killed two months ago by Loki during his little world domination ploy. He was Director Fury's right-hand man."

She sucked in a breath. "That's SHIELD, isn't it? He worked for SHIELD—he was a SHIELD agent." She became borderline frantic. "What the hell was SHIELD doing in my town at the site of a gas explosion?"

Both men averted their gazes, and the only noises that filled the room were the sound of her labored breathing and the hum of the machines.

Her shoulders slumped as she finally accepted what she already knew to be true.

"It wasn't a gas explosion, was it?" she said quietly.

Bruce shook his head. "No, no it wasn't."

She took a deep, shaky breath. She had to keep herself together. That was not the time to breakdown. She would do that later—somewhere dark and alone. It was time for answers.

"Then what was it? What killed my parents?"

Bruce looked at her with such pity that her heart twisted painfully in her chest.

"Alien weaponry sent to kill one of their own. He protected what he could of the town, but…"

"Alien like—?"

"Yes, like Loki."

She nodded, pulling back, withdrawing into herself. "Of course…of course it all comes back to _him_." She took successive deep breaths and leaned back against the nearest table in an attempt to keep herself grounded.

"Okay—okay. How does this tie into my brain thing? I wasn't there. I couldn't have been affected by the, uh, radiation, or whatever. I wasn't there."

Bruce wrung his hands. "I have a theory but…"

Alexa waited for him to continue and when he didn't she let out an exhausted, "but what?" The situation really needed another twist. Everything so far just couldn't be enough, could it?

"Brucey is talking about Sparky," Tony interrupted, growing impatient with all this tiptoeing. "She was the one exposed to the radiation—to the effects of the attack. The munchkin could have become radioactive in a sense and over exposure to her could have led to it affecting you too. It would certainly explain how Sparky was able to go all zappy on Loki's green ass."

Alexa gave him a dry look. "Okay, so let me try and break this down for my inferior intellect. You're telling me that the government lied to us and that my hometown wasn't destroyed by a gas explosion, but from simply being in the wrong place, caught in the crossfire between _aliens _trying to kill each other. And that attack led my sister to be exposed to possible 'alien' radiation combined with her electrocution, resulting in a vague ability to explode lightning when she's decently pissed off. Oh, and in general my _living_ with my sister has somehow also exposed me to the radiation too."

"Don't forget it's the exposure that's led to your brain's freaky mutation."

"Right." Alexa nodded. "Of course, silly of me to forget—silly."

Bruce and Tony glanced nervously at each other. Her voice was beginning to take on a slightly hysterical edge.

"Maybe you should sit down, Mood Ring…" Tony waved jerkily at Bruce to give her the chair near him. Tony wanted no part in dealing with a panic-attack-having, fainting woman in _his_ lab.

Alexa allowed herself to be guided to the chair and mechanically sat down without much acknowledgement to Bruce.

Tony suddenly had the impulse to break the serious, oppressive silence. "It's just a theory, of course. We haven't necessarily proved anything."

Alexa didn't move her eyes from the far wall but asked, "What do you need to prove it then?"

"Well, Sparky for starters."

Tony walked over to a nearby monitor and began clicking around importantly. "We'll need to run some tests on her to see if this 'radiation' even exists and whether it can be possibly linked to both of your mutations."

Alexa flinched at the term. "Mutations…"

"Yeah, mutations—changes of the nucleotide sequence of the genome of an organism, virus, or extra chromosomal genetic element. As in your brain has been mutated. Your sister has somehow been mutated. Both of you are walking human mutations," he rambled on.

Bruce looked worriedly over at Alexa. "Uh, Tony, maybe we should refrain from using that word."

"What—why—" Tony turned and briefly registered Alexa's quickly paling face. He rolled his eyes. "Oh stop being a baby. You're not the only one with a freaky mutant condition here."

Bruce sent him a sharp look.

Tony made an exasperated noise and rolled his eyes again. "It's not exactly a secret big guy. I'm surprised she hasn't figured it out yet anyways."

Bruce glanced nervously at Alexa, but the conversation seemed to go right over her head, as she quickly changed the topic back to her sister.

"Can I have Lizzy come down tomorrow for tests? Will you be ready?"

Tony huffed. "Mood Ring, I'm always ready."

Alexa nodded robotically. "I'll bring her down tomorrow after breakfast." After a pause, she stood. "I'm going to go back now. I'll see you both tomorrow."

"You mean today. It's what—four in the morning? JARVIS?"

"It is four thirty four, sir."

"Today, then," Alexa said without any attempt at enthusiasm. She crossed the room at a pace which betrayed her desire to leave as fast as possible and her wish to keep that fact from being obvious. Even the doors of the lab seemed not to move fast enough, and she resorted to slipping between them before they fully opened.

Abruptly, though, her frame froze mid-step, and she pirouetted, sticking a hand out to keep the doors from slipping closed. "I don't want the Galisteo…_thing_ mentioned to my sister." She took turns directing her heavy gaze at both Bruce and Tony. "No one is going to talk about aliens being the reason behind it, is that clear?"

"Somehow I feel like Sparky's not going to like that…" Tony half sang.

Bruce looked mildly disturbed and immediately objected. "Don't you think it'd be best to be honest with her? She's still a kid, yes, but she deserves to know and I think she'd be able to handle—"

"Last time I checked, she was _my _sister, and _I_ am her legal guardian," Alexa snapped with an angry glare, showing more emotion then than she had in the last half hour, "so _I_ will be making the decision on just what exactly she's able to handle, that clear?"

Bruce withdrew a few steps and nodded, shocked by the iciness of her tone.

Tony stepped in, waving his hands. "Look, we won't say anything, Mood Ring, scout's honor. Now go to bed and leave the men to work."

With one last substantial look at the two, Alexa allowed the doors to close behind her.

Tony clapped Bruce on the shoulder sympathetically. "I think you two just had your first fight. Should I break out the whiskey?"


End file.
